Inventors go where there’s a crowd

Colton White, left, and Matt Turnbull of Antigonish are part of a growing movement by people with ideas but no capital to access funding through small commitments made over the Internet. (AARON BESWICK / Truro Bureau)

ANTIGONISH — Colton White and Matt Turnbull have a deck of monsters and gnarly adventures they want to share with the world —but no money.

To make their dream come true of printing, boxing and distributing 2,000 copies of their card game, they need $15,000.

“Selling 2,000 copies doesn’t make us much money,” White said of the Mayhem Mines game.

“For us, it’s just about the joy of seeing a game we invented on store shelves and in people’s homes.”

He and Turnbull both work full time, but without a history in private business, a bank loan isn’t an option.

Traditionally, this would have been the end of Mayhem Mines — a deck of 54 brightly coloured cards drawn by Turnbull that allow up to four players to try to connive their way to treasure in games that last from 10 to 30 minutes.

But in this case, the 20-something game inventors have turned to a new method of raising capital that has a growing subscribership.

They’ve set up an account on crowd funding website indiegogo.com that allows people to invest as little as $5 toward their campaign. If they reach $15,000 by the end of November, they get the money to invest. If they don’t, the cash is automatically returned to the accounts of contributors. Those putting in $20 will be shipped a copy of the game. For $40, contributors get a T-shirt as well.

Tracy Boyer-Morris and Joanne Macrae own The Hub, a Barrington Street office space in Halifax known for attracting high-tech innovators.

“Crowd funding is really no different than what still happens when people get mail asking for contributions to groups like the War Amps,” Boyer-Morris said. “It’s just being done over the Internet and allows groups or individuals to reach a wider, like-minded audience.”

During a conference call, Boyer-Morris and Macrae pointed to a host of Nova Scotia small businesses and non-profits that have turned to crowd funding, like Sarah Craig of I Heart Bikes when she wanted to buy a tandem bicycle, the Brooklyn Warehouse for a restaurant expansion and Nocturne Halifax for an artist’s award.

“Part of the reason this field is growing is because people are frustrated with the lack of different ways to finance ideas that have great social impact as well as maybe some profitability,” Macrae said.

“Traditional institutional funding is either very bureaucratic or doesn’t recognize ideas that are a mix of for profit and for good.”

Two websites, indiegogo.com and kickstarter.com, lead a growing pack of such sites, some specializing in big campaigns while others are dedicated to small businesses or non-profits.

But it’s not as simple as “If you build it, they will come,” warned Boyer-Morris and Macrae.